4 DAYS / 3 NITES RAJA AMPAT ( WAIGEO ) WILSON BOP & Red BOP observe
Birding 31 January – 3 Feb 2015
Hi benny,
Richard and I have really enjoyed our short visit to Sorong and Waisai. We have seen some amazing birds, met some lovely people and seen same incredibly interesting country. We have also enjoyed the experiences on the ferries, watching the world go by and the dolphins playing in the water. The getsemani was a perfect way to come back, sitting on the stern deck in the warm shade.
The pickup worked fine and your advice to buy a local SIM card to help with communications was very useful. It meant also that we could let you know when we would be coming here from Papua paradise.
Now for the focus of the trip! We were so happy that the wilson’s bird turned up and were stunned at its beauty. It was wonderful to see it doing its “Housework”, tidying up its patch of ground! We understand, of course that birds are wild creatures and don’t always appear on demand. Maybe you should remind people in your publicity material that the bird may not turn up.
It is a good idea to try to see both birds on the same day. We didn’t see the Red BOP in the evening but luckily it was there the next morning. It too was wonderful. We’re pleased you have been able to make this arrangement with Mr. Luther and hope that it continues.
We would like to have had the opportunity of doing a short 2/3/4 hours birding trip from sorong it had been available. Presumable there are places nearby which can be reached quite easily where some mangrove or shone birds can be seen?
Your team is great!
You have a group expert, dedicated helpful and delightful people! Everybody was very professional but also good company, both for us and for each other.
Winet is a good birder, an excellent spotter and we think would benefit a great deal from having access to a more detailed bird book. This would allow him to become a truly excellent bird guide, as he has great potential.
Eko is also good and is learning a lot from winet. Dell is great at having tea stops organized plus cooking a lovely lunch which we really enjoyed.
We should also mention your drivers. Both the sorong and waisai man was outstanding. He drives so carefully along the very difficult roads there and we never once had any doubts about our safety.
All your team seems to have a natural affinity for conservation which is encouraging. There is so much destruction of the forest going on which is depressing but there is hope with people like your team who value it. So many others do not, and we were unhappy at seeing the ferry staff loss bags of rubbish into the sea. The litter that causes so much harm to marine birds and others life will never slop if everyone continues to do that!
Finally, thanks again for an excellent trip. We hope those comments are helpful and wish you and your team good fortune.
Best wishes
Tricia & Richard